Wheat prices posted record gains in Chicago on Monday as the U.S. winter crop faced substantial losses from snow and high winds that slammed into four Midwest states including Kansas, the top grower.

More than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow fell on ripening wheat in parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Nebraska in the past 24 hours, David Streit, the senior lead forecaster at Bethesda, Maryland-based Commodity Weather Group LLC, said in a telephone interview. While it will take several days before the damage can be assessed accurately as the snow melts, early estimates suggest losses could exceed 50 million bushels, according to Pira Energy.

French winemakers deploy candles, heaters and helicopters to save vines from frost

Sharp spring frosts are damaging production in some of France’s most famous winemaking regions, including Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy, posing a threat to growers’ incomes.

Vineyards report temperatures plunged in all three regions last week, sometimes to below -7C (19°F), hurting shoots already well-developed because of earlier mild weather, and growers fear a new cold snap could cause more damage.

In the Bordeaux region, farm unions estimated that several thousand hectares of vineyards across the region, out of a total of 115,000ha, had been hit by last week’s frosts, with some experiencing damage between 50 and 100%.

An unusual frost in the province of Belluno: Night of fires to save the vineyards

BELLUNO. Fire in the vineyards: to warm the screws. Agriculture fight against frost back in this April "abnormally cold", as defined by the Arpav

The values in Veneto are results of 7 degrees below the norm and in the Belluno have occurred mean deviations of 9 degrees in Valbelluna and 8-9 degrees in Dolomite valley, 7-8 at high altitude. The Arpav indicates the peak temperatures rounds of well below zero: -9.1 Arabba, Asiago -8.3, -6.9 in Cortina (all values 9-10 degrees lower than normal), but also in the valley is tucked the duvet with new frosts: -3.1 in Belluno (again below normal values 9-10). For the normally colder areas have registered -9 in Cansiglio, in Val Visdende -10.5, -11.6 to Marcesina, -12 to Cimabanche.

In Switzerland, on Thursday night, numerous temperature records have fallen. According to the weather service MeteoNews, the weather in the second half of April has never been so cold in at least six places, at least since the start of the measurements. Among them are Visp in the canton of Valais, where it has been measured since 1959, and Arosa in the canton of Graubünden, which has been measured since 1931.